52 



Mississippi's forest resources and industries 



Yet on most of the pulpwood operations in the State, 

 nearly all the utilizable timber is taken. Such clear- 

 cutting operations not only further the rapid decline 

 in the forest resource; they cause resentment from 

 forest landowners and the consequent drying up of 

 many sources of wood for the pulp industry. 



If all the avenues toward effective and complete 

 utilization will be traveled more fully, the forest situ- 

 ation will be helped greatly. Nevertheless, fuller utili- 

 zation is not the whole answer. 



Improved Cutting Practice 



The basic method for insuring adequate timber sup- 

 plies is sound cutting practice supplemented by plant- 

 ing as needed — practices that will provide high, con- 

 tinuous timber yields. Anything short of this cannot 

 meet industry's need. In general, these are the goals: 

 In all stands, cut so as to insure some residual volume 

 for subsequent growth and reproduction. In mixed 

 stands, leave pine to reproduce, and reduce the pro- 

 portion of hardwood. In hardwood stands, cut so as 

 to reduce the proportion of less desired species and 

 poor-quality trees. On most properties, reduce total 

 drain below total growth. 



Supervision of logging operations to insure that log- 

 ging follows silvicultural principles, or at least con- 

 tract limitations of cutting, is one of the surest ways of 

 achieving satisfactory cutting practice. Yet technical 

 foresters are employed, primarily by large wood- 

 using firms, on only a tenth of the privately owned 

 forest, and wholly unsupervised cutting is still the rule 

 on more than half the forest. Where technical super- 

 vision of logging is not employed, cutting diameter lim- 

 its sometimes reduce forest deterioration, at least in 

 pine stands; but although diameter limits are used in 

 half the logging contracts, they arc frequently no more 

 than an estimate of the limits of merchantability. 



Some forest owners can provide effective supervision 

 themselves; some can obtain free management assist- 

 ance from public agencies or forest-products concerns; 

 in other cases, technical forestry services must be hired. 

 Where technical supervision cannot be provided be- 

 cause it is costly or unavailable, a moderate degree of 

 supervision can still be exercised by the owners. Rap- 

 idly growing young stands need not be cut. Fuel wood 

 and domestic-use cutting can be used to improve the 

 forest; and in commercial logging, an adequate num- 

 ber of merchantable seed trees can be reserved. 



Some minimum cutting practices have been set up 

 in the Mississippi Forest Harvesting Act. This law 



states essentially that at least four 10-inch pine seed 

 trees per acre or six 10-inch hardwood seed trees or one 

 hundred 4-inch trees must be left standing after each 

 cutting operation. These requirements are mild, in- 

 suring at best only fair cutting practice. They have 

 already helped timber management measurably, and 

 if fully observed, they could help considerably more. 



Fire Control 



Fire is very injurious to Mississippi's forest. It de- 

 stroys seedlings and small trees. It kills or wounds 

 larger trees and exposes them to damage from disease 

 and insects. It has also been an important factor in 

 eliminating pines from many upland stands and replac- 

 ing them with hardwoods, which are usually of lower 

 value on these sites. 



A high standard of protection from fire is one of the 

 imperative needs in forest management. Yet in Mis- 

 sissippi fire control on more than four-tenths of the 

 privately held forest is rated no better than poor. Co- 

 operative State-Federal fire control is extended to 51 

 counties (out of 82 in the State) which vote to help 

 defray the cost by an annual levy of 2 cents per acre of 

 forest land. Public fire control has been making rapid 

 gains in recent years, but coverage is still insufficient, 

 and financing is inadequate even in the protected 

 counties. 



Private efforts to control fire are much more limited. 

 Owners of a large part of the forest make an effort to 

 stop forest wildfires, but owners of only a tenth of the 

 privately held forest make an effort to the extent of 

 installing fire lanes, firebreaks, or other structures and 

 equipment. The more elaborate methods of fire con- 

 trol are confined largely to the wood-using concerns 

 Avhich understand the direct connection between good 

 forest protection and good timber management. 



Gr.azing Control 



Protection against grazing damage Is often a factor 

 to be weighed along with protection from fire, since 

 unrestricted grazing may be as important as fire In 

 limiting the establishment and early growth of stands. 

 Hogs cause severe damage to pine seedlings and sap- 

 lings by uprooting, girdling, and stripping tap or 

 lateral roots. Sheep do their damage by repeated nip- 

 ping of terminal buds. Cattle do not have a stiong 

 liking for pines, but they can do heavy damage to 

 young hardwoods by trampling the trees or nipping 

 the buds. 



